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The Basmachi Movement From Within: An Account of Zeki Velidi Togan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

H. B. Paksoy
H. B. Paksoy*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, & Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Extract

J. V. Stalin, in his 1923 denunciation of Sultan Galiev, formerly Stalin's own assistant in Narkomnats, stated:

I accused him (Sultan Galiev) of creating an organization of the Validov type … despite that, a week later, he sent … a secret letter … to establish contact with the Basmachi and with their leader Validov.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 373 - 399
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Association for the Study of Nationalities of Eastern Europe and ex-USSR, Inc. 

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References

Notes

* An earlier draft of this article was read to the Third International Central Asian Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, in April 1988.Google Scholar

1. Speech at the Fourth Conference of the Central Committee of the RKP (b) with the responsible Workers of the National Republics and Regions, 10 June 1923. “The Sultan Galiev Case”, J. V. Stalin, Works, (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1953), Vol. 5, 1921–1923, pp. 308–319. For a reprint of this speech, see A. Bennigsen and S. E. Wimbush, Moslem National Communism (Chicago, 1979).Google Scholar

2. As he refers to himself in his writings.Google Scholar

3. H. B. Paksoy, “Basmachi,” Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union (Orlando, FL: Academic International Press, 1991). Vol 4, pp. 5–20.Google Scholar

4. Z. V. Togan, Hatiralar, (Istanbul, 1969). Introduction.Google Scholar

5. Z. V. Togan's Türkili Turkistan was first printed in Cairo 1928–1939, although it was not widely distributed due to the prevailing conditions. The first Latin alphabet printing was effected during 1947 in Istanbul. It was reprinted, effectively the third time, in Istanbul, in 1981 (696 pp.), although it carries the designation of 2nd Edition. Türkili is primarily a history text. Togan's Hatiralar, on the other hand, contains more personal observations on his involvement.Google Scholar

6. Most of the quotations are taken from pp. 399–474 of Türkili (1981 edition) and pp. 365–463 of Hatiralar. Biographical material is primarily from the earlier pages of the latter work. Therefore, extensive page references will not be given.Google Scholar

7. See H. B. Paksoy, Central Asian Monuments (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1992), “Introduction,” for a bibliography of readily accessible versions. According to Ottoman archival material (in Bashbakanlik Archivi), it appears that Köroǧlu was a real person living in the c. 16th century, around Bolu province in Asia Minor.Google Scholar

8. See the short biography of Akchura by David S. Thomas in H. B. Paksoy, Central Asian Monuments. Google Scholar

9. Given the date of original writing, these references are to the respective liberation movements.Google Scholar

10. Tur̈kili, pp. 486 526.Google Scholar

11. Although Togan's memoirs cover the period up to and including the year 1925, as a consummate professional historian, he often provides information on the resolution of many an event, down to the days during which he was writing the memoirs themselves. On the other hand, Togan does not introduce new issues after 1925.Google Scholar

12. Olaf Caroe, Soviet Empire and the Turks of Central Asia (London, 1953). Indeed, Caroe acknowledges his indebtedness to Togan.Google Scholar

13. Togan's spellings.Google Scholar

14. For discussion of religious terms, see M. G. S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam (Chicago, 1974). 3 vols.Google Scholar

15. Despite their names, neither was Russian, but both had been baptized. Togan calls Katanov a Sagay-Turk from the Altai region and Ashmarin, a Chuvash-Turk.Google Scholar

16. See Uli Schamiloglu, “The Formation of a Tatar Historical Consciousness: Shihabeddin Marcani and the Image of the Golden Horde,” Central Asian Survey, 9(2), pp. 39–49 (1990).Google Scholar

17. Another prominent Orientalist of the era.Google Scholar

18. It was translated into English: V. V. Barthold, Four Studies on the History of Central Asia (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963). Vol. II, Ulugh-Beg.Google Scholar

19. A German-born and trained compiler of Turkish materials.Google Scholar

20. See H. B. Paksoy, “Basmachi,” Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and Soviet Union (Orlando, FL: Academic International Press, 1991). Vol. 4, pp. 5–20.Google Scholar

21. See Edward J. Lazzerini, “Ismail Bey Gasprinskii's Perevodchik/Tercman: A Clarion of Modernism,” Central Asian Monuments, H. B. Paksoy (ed.) (Istanbul, Isis Press, 1992) and the sources quoted.Google Scholar

22. For the last two, see Audrey L. Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1992).Google Scholar

23. Ulama in the khanates of Bukhara or Khiva were not part of this official structure, The Spiritual Board. As Togan describes, however, the Kadimist/Emirist ulama in these khanates were also siding with the Russians. The ulama hoped to eliminate the challenge to their own authority, presented by the reformist Jadids, by liquidating the latter with the aid of the Russians.Google Scholar

24. According to the hand-list of his papers, Togan also completed a history of the Bashkurts and the Bashkurt Army. This work remains unpublished. In Hatiralar there are extended references to the past of the Bashkurt Army and its operations. R. Baumann, in his “Subject Nationalities in the Military Service of Imperial Russia: The Case of Bashkirs,” Slavic Review, Fall/Winter (1987), argues that “… Bashkirs have parallels among Apache Scouts in the US, the Gurkhas in India, the Philippine Scouts, or the Natal Native Contingent in Africa.” Baumann's account ends at 1914.Google Scholar

25. Togan relates that secret agents of Bolsheviks, trying to win over the Bashkurt troops, were being killed by the latter on the spot. As a result, he reports, “such elements stopped coming even near the barracks.”Google Scholar

26. See Society for Central Asian Studies, Programmnie dokumenti musulmanskikh politich-eskikh partii 1917–1920 gg., Reprint Series, No. 2 (Oxford, 1985).Google Scholar

27. A biography is published: Nairn Karimov, Cholpan (Tashkent: Fan, 1991). Cf. Nairn Karimov, “Exposing the Murderer of Alpamysh”; translated by Shawn T. Lyons, from Shark Yulduzi (Tashkent) 12 (1992), in this volume.Google Scholar

28. In Russian language Sources “Sultan Galiev.” For his and other Central Asians referenced by Togan, see Moslem National Communism. For a more recent treatment, see Masayuki, Yamauchi, The Dream of Sultangaliev (Tokyo, 1986), in Japanese. Also the sources cited by Yamauchi in his “One Aspect of Democratization in Tatarstan: The Dream of Sultangaliev Revisited” presented to the Conference on Islam and Democratization in Central Asia, held at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, 26–27 September 1992.Google Scholar

29. For the two personages and the organization, See S. Shaw and E. Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).Google Scholar

30. Provided to the Bashkurt RevKom by the Bolsheviks, along with several automobiles; confiscated from foreign missions.Google Scholar

31. Translation of its platform follows below.Google Scholar

32. Togan notes that a copy of this letter was later brought to Berlin in 1923.Google Scholar

33. Zahirddin Muhammad Babr Padshah Ghazi was a direct descendant of Timur (d. 1405), and the founder of the Moghul dynasty in India. Babr's memoirs were widely known. They were published in facsimile under the title Babar-Nama by Anette S. Beveridge (Leiden-London, 1905). An English translation was also made by Beveridge (London, 1922); reprinted at least once, in 1969.Google Scholar

34. For the Russian/Bolshevik period, see Seymour Becker, Russia's Protectorates in Central Asia: Bukhara and Khiva, 1865–1924 (Cambridge, MA, 1968). For the earlier period, see R. N. Frye, The History of Bukhara (Cambridge, MA, 1954).Google Scholar

35. See the Kadimist ulama above.Google Scholar

36. Who was the first Minister of Interior, and later, of Defense. Earlier, Arif was Togan's military aide in the Bashkurt Movement.Google Scholar

37. Togan provides the details of intellectual currents “that might have effected the thoughts of the individuals preparing this program” in Tur̈kili, pp. 415–416.Google Scholar

38. Program in Togan, Turkili Turkistan, pp. 410–411.Google Scholar

39. Togan notes that this program was expanded and republished in Prague during 1926 in a bilingual edition. See Togan, Turkili Turkistan, pp. 411–414.Google Scholar

40. Uli Schamiloglu, “The Formation of a Tatar Historical Consciousness: Shihabeddin Marcani and the Image of the Golden Horde,” Central Asian Survey (London) 9(2) (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41. Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay, “Abdul Kayum Al-Nasyri: A Tatar Reformer of the 19th Century,” Central Asian Survey (Oxford), 1(4) (1983).Google Scholar

42. See Edward J. Lazzerini, “Ismail Bey Gasprinskii's Perevodchik/Tercman: A Clarion of Modernism,” Central Asian Monuments H. B. Paksoy, (ed.) (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1992) and the sources cited therein.Google Scholar

43. Togan, Turkili Turkistan, pp. 416–418.Google Scholar

44. A particular perspective on the Drdnc, from the Kirghiz side, can be found in H. B. Paksoy, “Observations Among Kirghiz Refugees from the Pamirs of Afghanistan Settled in the Turkish Republic,” Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, XVI(1) (1985).Google Scholar

45. Korbashi is the title of preference of the Basmachi leaders, origins of which is explained as “Commander of Defense Troops” in Mahmut Kashgarli's 11th c. work Compendium of Turkic Dialects. Google Scholar

46. Togan, Tur̈kili, pp. 419–421.Google Scholar

47. Togan, Tur̈kili, p. 427.Google Scholar

48. The Bashkurt Movement leadership. See above.Google Scholar

49. Glenda Fraser, in her “Haci Sami and the Turkestan Federation 1922–3,” Asian Affairs (London). XVII (Old Series Vol. 74), Part I, (1987), follows Haji Sami tied to Enver's path.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

50. It must be remembered that Murteci has a much stronger meaning than just “reactionary.” Togan is remarkably restrained in his reference.Google Scholar

51. See S. S. Aydemir for a biography of Enver, Makedonya'dan Orta Asya'ya Enver Pa a (Istanbul, 1972), 3 vols. Aydemir himself was one of the early students at KUTVA, in Moscow. He met Enver in the Caucasus during the First World War, and later in Moscow. Aydemir subsequently worked to propagate Bolshevism in the newly established Turkish Republic (which had waged a similar and successful war of independence, 1919–1924, in Asia Minor) and was jailed. After his release, Aydemir entered the Turkish Republic government service. See also Azade-Ayse Rorlich, “Fellow Travelers: Enver Pasha and the Bolshevik Government 1918–1920,” Asian Affairs (London), XIII (old Series Vol. 69), Part III, (1982).Google Scholar

52. Togan knew this individual well, having met him during his earlier trip sponsored by the Imperial Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar

53. It appears that the memoirs refered to were kept very much in the tradition of the bitikchi of earlier eras. It is well-known that military units of the Turks always employed such recorders on the battlefields for the purpose of keeping tabs on the performance of individual troops. After the termination of fighting, rewards and promotions or punishment and demotions were dispensed accordingly.Google Scholar

54. See Kevin Krisciunas, “Legacy of Ulugh Beg,” Central Asian Monuments, H. B. Paksoy (ed.)(Istanbul: Isis Press, 1992).Google Scholar

55. See H. B. Paksoy, “Sun is also Fire,” Central Asian Monuments, footnote 106.Google Scholar

56. The text in the rest of this paragraph is garbled at the typesetter, Hatiralar, p. 461.Google Scholar

57. See Altstadt, The Azerbaijani Turks for the alphabet issues in Azerbaijan.Google Scholar

58. See Fen-Edebiyat, Fakultesi Arastirma Dergisi, Ataturk Universitesi, Erzurum, Say 13, 1985. This source contains some biographical material, especially on the post-1925 period, not found in Tur̈kili or Hatiralar Google Scholar